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The New York Mills High School Drama Department, along with Close-up, takes us back this weekend to a time of sock hops and soda jerks; back to a time where people like Ralph Malph and Potsie hung out at drive-in burger joints. This Friday and Saturday, the high school drama department is performing its fall musical, "Nifty Fifties," in the James W. Mann Performing Arts Center beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. There will be a repeat performance of the play on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

New York Mills girls basketball standout Hannah Rutten is taking her game to college. The 6-foot, 1-inch senior post player for the Eagles signed a National Letter of Intent last week to play basketball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Rutten, who started practice Monday for her final high school season, is excited at the opportunity to play basketball at the next level in Duluth. She first visited the school last year and really liked what Duluth offered academically.

The developer who purchased and converted the old New York Mills hospital into condominiums is under pressure by the city for payment on a delinquent loan used to finance the project. City attorney Dennis Happel sent a letter to Steve Campbell of New York Mills partners III regarding past due payment on an Economic Development Authority loan totaling $126,466. In an effort to put pressure for payment on the developer, Happel sent the latest letter on behalf of the city. Happel had Previously written Campbell on April 29, 2008.

The GFWC New Horizons raised over $1,500 at the organization's annual fall fundraiser held Nov. 5 in New York Mills. With 91 items donated to the auction and 53 bidders attending the event, held at the NY Mills Regional Cultural Center, money raised will help support various community projects. Each year at least half of the proceeds generated from the auction go directly to the NYM Public Library. The rest of the money is given to help fund a community project selected by the group.

With over a month into publishing the East Otter Tail Focus newspaper, I have to say the transition to this new publication dedicated to Perham, New York Mills and surrounding areas has gone very well. There were definitely some challenges in launching The Focus, and we face more each week, but judging by comments on the street people seem to like what they find in the newspaper early into this combined publication. Now that we've published six editions of The Focus and we've worked some of the early kinks out, it's a good time to evaluate and improve what we put on the newsstands and send t

A New York Mills School Board member resigned Monday to accept a supervisor position in the school district. Lapene Maijala stepped down from his position as a board member, effective immediately, after being hired as Technology Supervisor with the school. "I enjoyed the time I spent on the board and believe the board has done, and will continue to do, what is best for the children and the school district," Maijala wrote in his resignation letter presented to the board Monday.

Church tradition and customs of the Middle Ages are not lost to Pastor Ryan Stout and his congregation at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York Mills. Along with the candy and trick-or-treating, Halloween is often thought of in today's society as a scary night of ghouls, goblins, death, and often evil. Not so, says Pastor Stout, who plans to hold a non-traditional church service Halloween night in the cemetery. Despite its image of vampires, werewolves, and walking dead, Halloween is actually an important date on the Christian calendar.

Early season cold weather, along with unemployed and laid off workers are major factors attributed to an increase of energy assistance requests to Otter Tail-Wadena Community Action Council. Federal stimulus funds recently made available to OT-W CAC Family Services should help many families in need of assistance this fall and winter. "We've seen a increase in requests from households looking for assistance with their utilities," said Diane Leaders, Family Services Director at OT-W CAC. "The snow hitting us early and temperatures staying in the 30's certainly didn't help.

Over 400 homes in Otter Tail and Wadena Counties are expected to be weatherized using new federal funds this fall and winter. About $5 billion has been made available for weatherization programs nationally as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Minnesota will receive $132 million over three years, of which $2.7 million will be going to Otter Tail-Wadena Community Action Council for distribution in this region on a three-year cycle.

New York Mills Elementary teachers had 100 percent attendance at the Freshwater Education District -RELI (Reforming Effective Literacy Instruction) Retreat held in August, showing their commitment to the job-embedded professional development initiative. The RELI Program provides New York Mills Elementary School support in developing, implementing and sustaining research-based, instructional practices in kindergarten through grade 6 classrooms for the purpose of improving student achievement in reading.